


Moving In

by e_wills



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/M, Fluff, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 08:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16971594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/e_wills/pseuds/e_wills
Summary: A short modern AU fluff piece in which Astrid moves in with Hiccup between college semesters.





	Moving In

“There!” Astrid set down a box from her car, which contained a large assortment of pans and cooking utensils. Kitchen was scribbled on the side. 

Hiccup was behind her, holding the last box labeled bathroom. 

His large, black dog came bounding around the corner, quite agile on only three legs. Toothless was an impressive specimen, even minus a limb. His bark was booming, but he looked and sounded more ferocious than he was. Astrid knew well that he loved belly rubs and was a glutton for cuddles on Hiccup’s old sofa. If she was not paying attention, whole slices of pizza would mysteriously disappear from her plate…

Toothless lumbered over to her, tail wagging. Astrid smiled, kneeling down to scratch him behind the ears and endure his enthusiastic licking; sloppy drags of his large tongue. She wasn’t normally a fan of dogs, partial to birds, but Toothless had converted her. He was so loving and bright, as wide-eyed and curious as his owner at times. 

“Toothless, no,” Hiccup chided, setting his box down on the kitchen counter. 

“It’s alright,” Astrid laughed, wiping her face on her arm. “Thanks for helping me unload the car, Hiccup.”

“It was no trouble.”

All in all, Astrid did not have many belongings—ten boxes and a suitcase, to be exact—though it had felt like packing up her entire life. The notion wasn’t too far-fetched as she had emptied her closet and took down all her posters. Her bedroom at her parents’ house was all but bare now. Everything personal had been carefully tucked into her car for another year at school.

But the coming year would be different. She would be living off campus in her friend’s apartment. 

Her very handsome, very male friend.

She had managed to soothe her parents’ initial protests. Some pleading, emphasizing Hiccup’s integrity and her own adulthood, had undoubtedly played a part in their slow acceptance of the idea. She had made the case that Hiccup was the best possible roommate: studious, clean, courteous. How many times had she spent the night at his place freshman year, able to study uninterrupted? In her old dorm, music blared and her roommate had stumbled in at all hours of the night. 

Hiccup had started out as her study buddy in freshman biology, but his apartment quickly became her refuge. The first time she spent the night had been an accident: the result of a late-night cram session. Every other night she had stayed was because it felt right, because she slept better in his apartment, and because Hiccup always made scrambled eggs and toast for her in the mornings—the one breakfast meal he could make passably well, which was more than could be said for her own dismal cooking ability.

There would be a lot of takeout in their future, she was certain.

Astrid walked into the living room, hands in her pockets. She was home, supposedly. 

They were both paying half the rent, so the apartment was as much hers as it was his—but she still felt like an intruder. Hiccup had found the place, and had lived there before her. Those were his dishtowels and his furniture, and her stuff was in boxes. How far could she spread out? How much of her own touch could she leave without encroaching on his space? They were only friends, after all. 

She turned to him with a sheepish grin. “Is this…okay?” she asked. “With you, I mean.”

Hiccup smiled. “Of course it is. I asked you to move in with me.” He patted Toothless’s head absently.

“I know, I know. This is still your place, though. I don’t want to—“

“It’s your place, too. I mean, you practically lived here last semester. Not that I minded! I liked all our study sessions and watching the football games. You can order a mean pizza, too. It was nice to have someone else besides Toothless to—”

She held up a hand, serious. “Hiccup, you know what I mean. I don’t want you to…regret this or anything.” She toyed with the drawstrings on her hoodie, finding it much easier than looking directly at those eyes. They were gorgeous in a way a friend was not supposed to appreciate. “I don’t want this to cause a problem for us.”

“Us?”

Astrid frowned. “Yes. We’re friends and I want to keep it that way.”

He strode forward, taking her hands in his. Astrid didn’t flinch and personal space had never been a precious commodity between them. Standing so close to Hiccup was more comfortable than it had been with any of her previous boyfriends. Because they were just friends, and that was all. There were no feelings to complicate their interactions, putting them on edge. Astrid was sure that was the most reasonable explanation for it. Right?

“I don’t want you to think of this as my place anymore. It’s our place,” Hiccup said. “You can kick your feet up on the coffee table if you want to. Dance around in your underwear to whatever tune’s in your head.”

Astrid rolled her eyes. “I bet you would like that, wouldn’t you?” 

His grin broadened and Astrid’s brow furrowed as he started to sway on the spot, guiding her arms to his made up rhythm.

“I don’t want to—stop. Hiccup, what are you…?”

He was humming, a slow, comforting tune Astrid couldn’t name. She was keenly aware of the tiny amount of friction of their fingers entwining and the way his hips moved, almost sensual in those tight jeans. 

“Hiccup,” she sighed, trying to pull away. 

A hand came to the small of her back, pulling her close until she was flush up against him. Then she could feel everything—his thighs rubbing against hers, the contraction of his muscles beneath his shirt as her chest was pressed way too intimately against him. She battled down the heat from her cheeks, reminding herself there was nothing suggestive about their awkward dancing. 

Nothing about Hiccup’s tone-deaf humming, nor the clumsy pivoting on his prosthetic leg, was anything other than innocent. They moved with a playful spirit, and Astrid grinned when Hiccup twirled her under his arm. She got hung up for a moment, confused—dancing was not her forte—but with a few snickers, she spun back around to face him. Her arms came around his neck with a wavering smile, and her heart starting to beat furiously. As their bodies met, she would have been shocked if Hiccup didn’t feel it, but he just continued to hum, guiding her around the living room, relaxed.

He hummed the chorus of that song, and it was then Astrid recognized it. “Out Of My League” by Stephen Speaks. A very curious choice and she wondered if it had any significance—any at all, though they were still friends. Just friends. 

And yet…

She tucked her head into the crook of his neck, feeling the melody in his throat reverberate through her entire being.

“Just to be clear,” she murmured, “we will not be doing this in our underwear.”

Hiccup laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize; I will be importing and posting much of my older work from Tumblr, which is less polished. My blog is marked for sanitation in the Great Tumblr Purge. I'm backing it up here. Not everything will be a gem, but I don't want it gone for good. Please, be kind if you choose to comment on some of this older work. I have grown.


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